PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — Three Jamaican Americans here have said that while they are rooting for US Vice-President Kamala Harris to win the November 5 presidential election, they have mixed views about immigration, one of the burning issues in the campaign.

“I am leaning towards Kamala for the most part. I am still trying to get exactly where she is on a few things to seal the deal. I definitely cannot support the other character; there are too many red flags with him and unknowns,” Vincent Heath told the
Jamaica Observer in reference to former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate who has pledged that, if elected, he will conduct the largest deportation of immigrants in American history.

Heath said while he questions Harris’s approach to immigration, he still plans to vote for her on Tuesday.

“The question about the border — not that it would make or break me one way or another — but in terms of the border and how she is going to support these people who are coming in and moving into cities that are already stressed with homelessness and unemployment; what would the plan be? Would she continue to have migrants coming in that fashion?” he asked.

American officials have said that there are more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the US. Almost 80 per cent of them have lived in the country for a decade or more.

Heath, who has been in the US since his teenage years, said he has a social conscience but wants more emphasis from the Democrats on border protection.

“We can be as nice as we want to be, we can help people as much as we can, but on your own doorsteps when you have schools that are failing, school buildings, for instance, here in Philadelphia where schools lack air conditioning and when the temperature and humidity goes up, it is horrible in those buildings. I am saying, ‘If you are going to become president and you are going to continue on that path of saying, ‘Welcome’ to everybody in the fashion that they are doing, then how much will you be doing for the people here who need it?’ ” he asked.

“We all have [a social conscience] but then you have to be mindful that you have a responsibility as an elected official by the people to serve them also. They are not telling you to not give a helping hand, but for cities — whether they are a part of a red state or blue state or on the border like Nevada or Arizona… and people are coming across these borders and those border towns are getting overwhelmed — you are saying you are going to move resources into those areas, which is all good and well, but those border cities have their own problems and their own citizens to serve,” he explained.

“How do the elected officials answer to those people that say to them, ‘Listen, I have been here and trying to get medical assistance and I can’t but yet you are setting up a tent and then you are getting it staffed with the Army, or whatever you use, but then you have people sitting on the streets who can’t get those services.’ The question is, who are you serving?” he asked.

Pervis Morrison, who resides in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, on the outskirts of Philadelphia said he, too, agrees with Trump’s argument that the border needs to be controlled.

“Immigration is a very touchy subject here in the US. I myself am an immigrant so I definitely know where immigrants’ point of view is from. However, it is a sticky subject,” he told the Sunday Observer.

“I actually agree with Mr Trump on that in some respect, a larger respect than Harris. You have to control the border. And you have a disproportionate amount of people coming across — mainly from Latin America, Mexico, and those places — so it is like one ethnic group being favoured. You have to have stronger measures at the border,” Morrison said.

“I think the Democrats can do a better job in terms of that. I am not a one-issue guy but I lean towards the Republican Party [in that respect],” said the Cornwall College old boy.

However, Junior Gordon, who resides in Philadelphia, views the immigration issue differently.

“My take is blunt. People have been coming across the border since the end of time; it is not a today thing. The influx [, however,] might be more now for the last 10 or so years. Whatever the reason is, I am not sure,” he said while pointing out that for him, immigration is not a big issue.

“As to the Government providing support for all these people, that is a Federal Government issue; they need to fix that. But on the local government level it is not affecting anybody because every Government has social welfare to take care of their people in their communities,” Gordon said.

He argued that illegal immigrants are placed in a bad light but pointed out that the majority of them are hard workers seeking an opportunity.

“The irony [is that] 90 per cent of the people who come across the border are good people, and they are coming here yearning for work. They are willing to work and make a better life, irrespective of the fact that they came across the border. There is a stigma out there… that you come across the border and so you must be a bad person,” he said.

“To me, illegal entry — whether it be Jamaican or Puerto Rican or Latinos — it doesn’t matter, illegal entry is just that — whether you come on a plane, or you stowaway, or you walk across the border, whatever way you come in. How you are going to go about getting that fixed is another story, because if history serves us right I am going to say 30 to 40 per cent of immigrants are illegal. At the end of the day, we got ourselves fixed by whatever means to become citizens or whatever,” he said.

Meanwhile, Morrison said he intends to vote on Tuesday.

“I like to vote on the day, not that I don’t trust the [early voting] process [but] I am a conventional kind of person. Voting on the day is more consequential,” he explained.

At the same time, Gordon said he is not worried that Pennsylvania is a swing state.

“Democrats always win in Philadelphia. People are pumped up. They are doing canvassing so I am hoping the result will be good,” Gordon told the Sunday Observer.

At the heart of the race are the seven most hotly contested swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin and — most crucially — Pennsylvania, which has 19 electoral college votes.